Orioles send out Miley in bid for sweep of Blue Jays (May 21, 2017)
BALTIMORE -- Returning home after a 1-6 road trip helped revive the Baltimore Orioles, who are 15-3 at Camden Yards.
Backed by the best home record in baseball, the Orioles will try to wrap up a sweep of their three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon.
Wade Miley (1-1, 3.02 ERA) will go for Baltimore against Toronto's Marco Estrada (2-2, 3.60 ERA).
The Orioles rallied for victories over Toronto in the first two games, including a 7-5 win on Saturday thanks to a three-run homer from Welington Castillo in the seventh inning.
"Usually after a long trip and a challenging one, you're kind of playing on cruise control, or ... overdrive a little bit with the first game," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said after the Saturday win. "It's the second game that you really get challenged, and I thought the crowd was big for us tonight. They were into it."
The Orioles (25-16) are hoping Miley will be into it on Sunday.
The left-hander has pitched well, but control and command issues have plagued him throughout the first two months of the season. He has 46 strikeouts but also has walked an American League-high 27, driving up his pitch counts and often shortening his starts.
Miley is 2-4 with a 5.40 career ERA against Toronto. He got a win in his lone appearance against the Blue Jays this year, when he threw six innings of three-run ball in a 6-4 victory at Toronto on April 14.
Estrada will make his third start against the Orioles this season. He came away without a decision in the first two even though he pitched well, giving up just two runs in 13 innings. He is just not getting much offensive support, as the Jays have scored two runs or fewer in five of his nine starts.
The right-hander is 4-1 with a 2.84 ERA in his career against the Orioles, often giving them problems.
Baltimore got back Seth Smith on Saturday. He sat out Friday after having a ball bounce back up and hit him in the cheek near his eye on Thursday at Detroit.
Smith had a second-inning single Saturday that stretched his hitting streak to six games.
The Blue Jays (18-26) made a number of moves on Saturday. They got center fielder Kevin Pillar back from a two-game suspension, and catcher Russell Martin, who had been out due to left shoulder nerve inflammation, returned from the disabled list.
However, injuries continue to plague the Jays. Aaron Sanchez, who threw six solid innings Friday, needed to go back on the disabled list for the third time this season with a troublesome right middle finger. Sanchez initially was sidelined due to a blister problem, then a second time because of a nail issue, and now it is the blister issue once more.
Toronto manager John Gibbons said the team would be patient with Sanchez regarding the blister.
"We want to knock it out," Gibbons said. "It's aggravating him."
Dwight Smith (optioned to Triple-A Buffalo) and Mike Ohlman (designated for assignment) left the roster, and reliever Cesar Valdez (recalled from Buffalo) joined the Blue Jays. Valdez threw a scoreless inning Saturday.
